LisaPunkinHead

@@nikkimarie_1991 -- I am five weeks postop and have gone from a 9-1/2 to a 9 in my shoe size. I have a friend who had the surgery about four years ago -- she was an 8-1/2 and is now a 7. So YES!! Your feet will get smaller!! Pretty sandals in your future!!!

@@alwaysvegas -- great idea to mix Protein powder into iced coffee!!

@@K-Lynn, I have had elevate liver enzymes as well. It depends on whether it is AST or ALT and how far they are elevated. They would have to be insanely elevated to consider a diagnosis of cirrhosis (alcoholic or non-alcoholic). When mine were elevated, my doc just said watch what you eat, get plenty of fluids, and check again in six weeks. Six weeks later it was normal. So don't let just one test tell the whole story.

I'm fascinated by all of our different processes after surgery -- some have Clear liquids for 2 weeks, others 2 days. Just a comment, no issues with it and not judging whether one is right or wrong -- just interesting to me!!

I think we will always struggle with head hunger, although I admit I never had it worse than when I was on liquids. One day recently I saw a Red Robin commercial, and in my mind I followed through with having a hamburger. I pictured them putting the burger down in front of me, with a beautiful pile of fries. Then I looked at it, cut a tiny piece of the burger, and gave the rest to my husband (still in my mind's eye). Even in my brain I knew there was no way I could eat that!!

Thanks, @@TammyDTM! I have been tolerating other foods well and am past pureed foods for the most part (although I still eat scrambled eggs and yogurt!). It was just one of those weird things that for some reason my wonderful new stomach didn't like my lunch -- all 2 ounces of it!

I'm 5 weeks post-op, slowly transitioning to stage 4, and I get between 500 and 550 per day. I use MyFitnessPal religiously to ensure I'm getting enough Protein, but my surgeon said to use it for life. He also said to remain under 1,000 calories for life. So far not hard to do!

BTW -- do calories puked back up still count?

Nunyabizectomy.

Me too!

I had the weirdest dreams that I forgot I was sleeved and ate potato chips. More than once I had these weird almost nightmare dreams about my sleeve. Ahh crazy times.

~LA

Yes! One of my dreams was that I took a bite of my kids turkey sandwich and I freaked out! Ha!

I dreamed that I put a big handful of popcorn in my mouth and then spit it out!

As of today, tuna or Mayonnaise. Five weeks postop, this was the first time I have eaten something and was afraid I was going to lose it.

Any others?

I use Bare Minerals Extra Firming Neck Cream -- it doesn't reduce the amount of skin, but it does firm it up and I don't feel like such a turkey neck. I hope it continues to work as I continue to lose!

http://www.bareescentuals.com/Extra-Firming-Neck-Cream/US53738,en_US,pd.html

For eggs, I have been using the liquid eggs so I can measure the amount I want. I bought individual serving packets of tuna (expensive but for now I will deal) -- still too much but not so much left over. I cook one fish filet for dinner and eat half at dinner and the other half at lunch. My latest discovery is the frozen chicken breast tenderloins at costco (in the frozen section, not breaded) -- they are about 2 ounces each, so one is just right.

My face and my FEET! I lost a shoe size before I lost a jean size!! Now it's coming off the upper torso area. I have lost a band size but fortunately not a cup size

It's fun to take my measurements every couple of weeks!

Head hunger was the bane of my existence while I was in Stage 2!!! It was like Carl's Jr. knew I was on a liquid diet and showed a commercial for the mile high burger every time!!! Then the pizza!!! When I was able to chew something in stage 3, that got better and the head hunger is barely there.

My surgeon said no caffeine, period, as sleeve patients are now at a greater risk of a GI bleed. I drink decaffeinated coffee, and did that before surgery.

(He also said no alcohol, period -- not an issue for me as I don't drink anyway).

@@GARYG, those are the same incisions I had -- 4 smaller and one larger.

@@Tauruslady5, the surgery was laparoscopic, but they still had to cut to get in the belly!! :-) The larger incision is the one they pull the stomach out through.

SW 253, DOS (2/19) 236, Current 217. I'm lucky to get 650 calories a day. Walking 5 days a week; this next week I will up the intensity a bit. I had some issues last week where I had intense pain near the large incision site. I think it was one last stitch not yet dissolved that was in my ab muscle. I thought my insides were being ripped up. Was in ER and a CT didn't show any issues. Two days later I felt good as new!

I don't know if I'm losing slowly or not. I had a bit of a stall around week 2. Now I'm very happy with the weight loss and how I am feeling!

I had pain in my large incision for about a week. Then about 2-3 weeks out, I overdid it (did some organizing in the house and was doing a lot of twisting) and the pain returned -- that last internal stitch didn't want to let go. Lasted for 5 days and I wound up in the ER because nobody really knew what it was. I stayed on the couch the next day, took some pain meds (that I hadn't taken since day 2 post-op) and the following day the pain was gone. I am now just over 4 weeks post-op and feel great.

You will have pain -- they have to go through those ab muscles to get your stomach pulled out. Takes those muscles time to heal. When I would try to get up, I would roll over on my side and almost off the bed before putting my feet down on the floor.

Congratulations on your surgery!

@, you and I had the same surgeon! He did my sleeve on Feb 19!

@@Califlower83 I do agree, wait until orientation. They will tell you everything you need to know!!! It will be here before you know it. One piece of advice -- be available to take the first appointment offered to you for follow up classes (I went to South San Francisco, so I don't know how the other Kaiser locations do this). Then my psych appointment was a long way out. When I hit the weight loss requested by my surgeon, I called to see if the psychologist had any cancellations -- I got in the next day!! So my surgery was actually the day before my original psych appointment (had I not changed it).

I looked into the weight management program, but also felt that I would fail at it.

Good luck!!! I'd love to hear about your progress!

@@Califlower83,

I was sleeved by Kaiser in Northern California last month. I had my original "options" class in early December, and my doctor referred me to bariatric surgery after that. I had my orientation in January, and they gave me the pre-op diet which I started that day. Lost the weight that they wanted me to lose within a month, surgery was scheduled, and 6 weeks from my orientation I had the surgery. Go for it! Funny, my PCP was completely supportive of my desire to have the surgery. He has been with me the whole way.

So glad to see I'm not the only one. I'm 3 weeks post-op and about 6 days ago I started having the same type of pulling pain near my large incision. Wound up in ER last night because they wanted to make sure it wasn't a hernia (it wasn't and everything is normal medically). Any time I go from sitting to standing or I twist or bend, it is excruciating. I am glad to know that it will pass.

I had my sleeve on Feb. 19 and I feel great! I went on an outing today to Ulta, costco, etc. My sister took me. It was about 2 hours and I was a little worn out after that!! I am on full liquids and see my surgeon on Tuesday and think he will advance me to soft foods. My biggest issue has been a dry mouth. I am getting in 64 ounces+ of fluids, but it's still dry!

I had my sleeve last Thursday. I feel pretty good! Still have one spot where the muscle engages when I stand or sit or get up from the bed, and still having some trouble sleeping. But I haven't felt the need for any pain meds since Saturday, I'm getting out and walking and enjoying this Northern California February. I came home on Friday -- the ride home was pretty rough but I made it. Wish I had brought a pillow or something to hold on my belly while in the car. No nausea, vomiting, any weird symptoms!! For five days out I feel pretty darn good!!